Daily lobbying for software patents continues; IBM’s Manny Schecter still cites patent trolls as credible allies and recent management changes haven’t put an end to that, so Red Hat’s 12-year chief is now president of an aggressive proponent of software patents.

Summary: The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is rotting away as an advocate against software patents; Patents on algorithms are still being granted (even when courts repeatedly reject these) and Red Hat’s Chief Patent Counsel remains Manny Schecter, one of the loudest proponents of such patents (citing the likes of Adam Mossoff this week, in effect Koch operatives); this is a very big problem because Free software projects come under a barrage of lawsuits, using patents like those IBM lobbies ferociously to legitimise

THE NEXT batch of Daily Links will contain what we believe to be the first report [1] regarding Mycroft getting sued by a patent troll, using two software patents (relatively) recently granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). It’s about patent numbers 9,794,348 and 10,491,679. The Register says that covers handling of “voice commands from a mobile device to remotely access and control a computer.” We have not examined these closely, but certainly that sounds like software patents with ample prior art. Mycroft is not so well funded and therefore it might be perceived as vulnerable (easy shakedown), but it will fight back nonetheless. At what cost?

The whole thing comes only a few months after the GNOME/Shotwell lawsuit, demonstrating that we in the Free software world cannot ignore bad patent law, invalid patents being granted and endless corruption at the European Patent Office (EPO), where António Campinos openly promotes illegal software patents in Europe (the EPO did that as recently as yesterday in Twitter).

The EFF likes to speak about 35 U.S.C. § 101 (albeit not much lately), but it never ever speaks about EPO corruption and rarely does it protect Free software specifically. For those reasons, among others (for example, some key staff of theirs leaving), we cannot rely on the EFF. The same goes for CCIA, whose blog which deals with the subject (“Patent Progress”) has not been particularly actively lately. We watch these things closely, over RSS feeds and beyond. Since the beginning of the year the EFF has written only a single blog post on the subject and it concerned design patents, not software patents.

We really need to speak out more loudly about these issues; sadly, almost everyone is ignoring the toxic role played by IBM (fear of ‘offending’ IBM?) and nobody in the Free software world speaks about EPO corruption. How come? Come on, people, those are the biggest issues or barriers. Ignored at one’s own peril.

If Mycroft ‘goes under’ due to this lawsuit, which can cost like a million bucks (appeals cost a fortune), all we’ll have left are listening devices. █

An AI startup is battling a patent-infringement lawsuit filed against it for building an open-source Linux-based voice-controlled assistant.

Mycroft AI first learned trouble was brewing when it was contacted by a lawyer at Tumey LLP, a Texas law firm focused on intellectual property, in December. In an email to the startup’s CEO Joshua Montgomery, the legal eagle claimed Mycroft AI’s technology infringed two US patents – 9,794,348 and 10,491,679 – belonging to Tumey’s client, Voice Tech Corp.

Voice Tech’s patents described a system for handling “voice commands from a mobile device to remotely access and control a computer.” Mycroft AI develops voice-assistant software that runs on Linux systems, including Raspberry Pis and its own standalone Mark I and II gadgets, and responds to spoken requests, such as setting alarms and reminders, searching the web, and so on. You can add more features by installing add-ons called skills.

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A Single Comment

First, I don’t always agree with Dr. Schestowitz. However, as a former IBMer, a lot more real information needs to get out about “IBM’s FOSS friendliness”. If you haven’t guessed already, they are not friendly to FOSS. Are they users/abusers of FOSS (like most)? Yes.

IBM is proud of being the largest annual patent producer (or at least being in the top 3) every year. They use these patent to ensure success in “business dealings”. Usually for acquisitions. Smaller players who might want to decline and IBM bid for whatever reason, will soon discover that you shouldn’t provoke a war that you simply cannot win.

This is one of the reasons I would like to see a full revamp of the patent system. Right now, they benefit only big companies. You see, a (small) inventor might create a patent, but if deemed ultra valuable, IBM will make you an offer you can’t refuse. Their primary interest… your patent(s). And sadly, like most cases, they own patents for which there is no “real” implementation or deliverable. And sadly, these are allowed to live on as valid patents used as leverage in “business dealings”.

Personally, because of the existing system, I’m very anti-patent. And while I’m not promising to become pro-patent, there are some changes that might help the existing very very very broken system. We need to apply a bit of poison to patents acquired by companies of some specified size. The idea of the ideal patent policy was to protect inventors from big companies. A little guy simply cannot bring their idea to market like a big company can. This allows the little guy time to figure out how they want to handle things. Do they do things more or less on their own? Do they sell their idea to a big company?

But right now, instead, patents are used as leverage to force the little guy to accepting a deal. Granted, sometimes these deals are large, but the problem is the word “force”. The control has been effectively taken away from the patent inventor.

So, the “poison” would come in the shortening of valid term of the patent. Allow the patent to expire much much much earlier based on the size of the acquring company. If you do this, btw, you’ll find many, if not all, of the top patent producers will disappear off that list.

If you’re pro-patent or anti-patent, IMHO, you need to understand just how evil awful patents are being used right now. While some inventors will retire on their “deal”, the fact is, even so, they are being exploited. And inventors as a whole are being hurt.

What Else is New

Torvalds and others who are middle-aged (or older) males are often torpedoed using weakly-backed allegations (or insinuations/innuendo) of sexism; that does not seem to matter and won't matter when they treat men the same (or worse)

Linus Torvalds was not fully canceled; nor was Richard Stallman, who's still heading the GNU Project (under conditions specified by those looking to oust him; people who code for Microsoft GitHub and many IBM employees)

General Hugh Shelton, Chairman of the Board of Red Hat, explains (keynote in 2011 Red Hat Summit/JBoss World) that he was introduced to the system as part of a military campaign; it basically helped war, not antiwar

Techrights examines Red Hat’s (IBM’s) hypocritical claims about the Free Software Foundation, founded by Richard Stallman back when IBM was the “big scary monopolist”; IBM employees were prominent among those pushing to oust Stallman from the GNU Project, which he founded, as well

The (in)famous letter against Richard Stallman (RMS), which was signed by many Red Hat employees with Microsoft (GitHub) accounts, doesn’t look particularly good in light of recent revelations/findings; it increasingly looks like IBM simply wants Microsoft-hosted and “permissively” licensed stuff, just like another project it announced yesterday and another that it promoted yesterday

One might not expect this from a so-called 'charity'; the Gates Foundation's critics are often met with unprecedented aggression, threats and retribution, which make one wonder if it's really a charity or a greedy cult of personalities (Bill and Melinda)

The assault on the media by Bill Gates is a subject not often explored by the media (maybe because a lot of it is already bribed by him); but we're beginning to gather new and important evidence that explains how critics are muzzled (even fired) and critical pieces spiked, never to see the light of day anywhere

Microsoft buying GitHub does not demonstrate that Microsoft loves Open Source (GitHub is not Open Source and may never be) but that it loves monopoly and coercion (what GitHub is all about and why it must be rejected)

The European Patent Office (EPO) keeps granting fake patents that cause a lot of real harm (examiners are pressured to play along and participate in this unlawful agenda); nobody is happy except those who profit from needless, frivolous lawsuits

After contributing to the cancellation of Richard Stallman (RMS) based on some falsehoods perpetuated in the media we're seeing the sort of thing one might expect from IBM (more so now that it totally controls Fedora and RHEL)

The coup to remove (or remove power from) Stallman and Torvalds, the GNU and Linux founders respectively, is followed by outsourcing of their work to Microsoft’s newly-acquired monopoly (GitHub) and appointment of Microsoft workers or Microsoft-friendly people, shoehorning them into top roles under the disingenuous guise of "professionalism"